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Mississippi Cattlemen's Association
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Washington Conference
President Steve Elgin joined cattlemen's association leaders from across the country at the NCBA Legislative Conference. While in Washington, Elgin visited Mississippi's congressional offices and USDA agencies.
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Pizza Farm
 1200 school children learned where their pizza comes from at last week's Pizza Farm program in Lee County.
Beef Council staff and CattleWomen's Association members participated in the 4-day agricultural education event.
The program received positive media attention from Tupelo's Channel 9 TV.
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Harper Visits Cattlemen's Meeting
Congressman Gregg Harper joined Lauderdale County cattlemen for their spring meeting at the home of Jeff Davis near Meridian.
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2,000 Attend NCBA Reception
Outback Steakhouse helped sponsor the NCBA Legislative Reception for members of Congress and their staff as well as our national Beef Ambassadors, pictured here.
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New MSU Beef Tag
Mississippi State's Collegiate Cattlemen's Association is selling MSU Beef tags to raise funds for the organization's activities.
This attractive tag is printed maroon on a reflective metallic background.
Click here for the order form. |
Farm Groups Focus on Estate Tax
According to Farm Futures, rising land values, higher farm asset costs have forced farmers to turn their attention to the need for better estate planning. First step there is to get Congress to enact a permanent set of estate tax rules so farmers and their families can plan ahead. A group of commodity, dairy, livestock and specialty crop industries is urging the House and Senate to enact legislation before the end of the year to provide permanent, meaningful estate tax relief.
The National Cattlemen's Beef Association and the American Soybean Association are among the farm groups making the push. The groups support keeping the $5 million per person as permanent, and retaining the top tax rate at 35 percent. And the groups say it's important that the estate tax law index the exemption to inflation, provide spousal transfers and included the stepped up basis. These are keys to preserving farmers that have expanded across the generations.
If Congress doesn't take the action on the recommendations, the group notes that the exemption will drop to $1 million and the top tax rate above the exclusion amount jumps to 55 percent.
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Senate Bill Proposes Major Changes
Reuters reports that U.S. farm subsidies would get a 21st Century make-over to protect grower revenue from ruinous losses, the biggest threat to their operations from today's high and volatile market prices, under a bill unveiled by Senate Agriculture Committee leaders on Friday.
Their plan would eliminate the $5 billion-a-year "direct payment" subsidy that is paid regardless of need and is a target of reformers. Overall, the Senate bill would cut spending by $23 billion over 10 years, mostly in crop subsidies.
Committee members were scheduled to meet Wednesday to discuss amendments. They were expected to approve the five-year bill, costing about $480 billion, by the end of the week. The 2008 farm law expires on Sept 30. Analysts say budget and election-year pressures may prevent speedy passage of a new law.
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| Chairman Lucas Addresses NCBA
Speaking to cattlemen at last week's NCBA Legislative Conference in Washington, DC, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas described the challenges his committee faced in arriving at a Farm Bill that would make it past a Senate vote.
Farm Futures reports that Lucas knows how frustrating it is to arrive at the end of April not knowing what the farm program is going to be by the time wheat harvest arrives. That's because the Oklahoma Congressman is also a hard red winter wheat producer and he faces the same uncertainty that all of his neighbors do.
"I chafe at not knowing, just like everybody else does," he told the North American Agricultural Journalists during a meeting in Washington, D.C.
Friday, Lucas, along with the rest of his committee, got an earful of what Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Colorado farmers think should be part of the 2012 Farm Bill at a field hearing in Dodge City.
Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.), who is hosted the field hearing, wanted a great deal of emphasis on what he terms a climate of burdensome over-regulation.
Huelskamp has introduced a bill that would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating farm dust and another that would eliminate the need for pesticide applicators to have dual state and federal permits.
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Market Notes
April 20, 2012
Dr. John Michael Riley
Cash Cattle:
Cash trade ended the week mostly steady with last week's trade. Live cattle in Texas sold at $120-121.50/cwt, while Kansas live cattle traded at $122/cwt. In Nebraska, live and dressed cattle traded at $123-$124.50/cwt and $199-$200/cwt, respectively. Feeder cattle in Oklahoma City were $2-$5/cwt higher and claves were steady. In Mississippi markets, feeder steers and heifers were $2-$5/cwt higher. Slaughter bulls were steady and cows were called $1-$2/cwt higher.
Futures:
Live cattle futures ended the week down slightly compared with last week's close. Prices moved sideways or higher most days, but a sharp decline on Wednesday - as many commodity prices slipped - led to the negative ending for the week. Sour news related to jobs pushed equities lower on Wednesday, which fueled the bearish tone for commodities.
Feeder cattle futures were higher this week. Improved cash feeder markets sparked the rally, which was aided by stronger wholesale beef prices, higher live cattle most days of the week and by lower corn prices.
Corn futures were lower on the week as old crop contracts continue to suffer more than new crop prices. Old crop contracts are still above the $6/bu mark but have shed about 60 cents over the past month.
Beef:
Wholesale beef prices improved sharply this week. Choice boxed beef averaged $185.12/cwt on the week, up $7.33. Select boxed beef averaged $183.12/cwt, up $5.92. The lean, finely textured beef headlines have subsided for now and evidence appears to show the results in trim prices. Fresh 50% lean ground beef jumped a little more than $15/cwt this week. Also, have we transitioned into preparations for grilling season? The jury is still out as it is tough to put much faith into one week of prices, but the strong rebound in wholesale beef prices should be viewed as a positive.
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Calendar
April
23 Panola CCA 24 Noxubee CCA 26 Marshall CCA 26 Neshoba CCA 27, 28 Lowndes Steak Sale 30 Grenada CCA
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Monday Memo
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May
5 MS Angus Sale Raymond
June August Hattiesburg |
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